The Milimani Anti-Corruption Court on Friday, March 21, 2025, released former Chuluni Member of County Assembly (MCA) James Mbuvi Wangunze and his accomplices on a Ksh300,000 bond with one surety of the same amount with no alternative of cash bail.
The former Kitui MCA was arrested alongside Mike Muthami and Raphael Mutho in connection with coercing and extorting government officers under the pretext of being Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officers.
Chief Magistrate Harrison Baraza dismissed the state request to court to extend their detention days, citing that they were not able to complete the investigations after the three refused to give access to four phones to the investigative officer (IO).
Delivering the ruling, Chief Magistrate Baraza stated that Article 49(d) of the Constitution of Kenya states that arrested persons cannot be compelled to make any confessions or admissions that could be used in evidence against them.
The Chief Magistrate stated that the IO can use the advanced technology to access the information on the four phones without compelling the three to give him the passwords, PINs and patterns.
“The court compelling the arrested persons to give the IO their phone patterns, passwords and PINs will be violating their rights,” Chief Magistrate Baraza ruled.
Further, the three were ordered to be reporting to the Integrity Centre whenever they are required during the investigations.
However, Baraza stated that the IO is allowed to continue with investigations as they await plea taking.
On Thursday, March 20, 2025, the lead Investigative Officer, John Otieno Nyagara, took to the dock and told the court that the suspects have been feigning to forget their phones passwords and PINs.
Nyagara said that the three totally refused to avail their passwords and PINs.
“The suspects have been claiming that they are not in a good state of mind to recall their passwords and PINs for us to access the information on their phones to complete investigations,” IO Nyagara told the court.
Nyagara told the court that there is very crucial information about government officers who were extorted by the three on the phones they have refused to allow them access to.
Further, he told the court that in the absence of the information in the four phones, the investigations will not be complete.
Nyagara also told the court that he already managed to record statements from Siaya, Machakos and Nairobi counties.
He is yet to record other statements from Kajiado, Kisumu and other parts of the country.
Additionally, IO Nyagara told the court that they were able to access information on the other eight phones the suspects were found with because they have buttons and did not have passwords on them.
However, the suspect’s lawyer strongly opposed the EACC’s request, arguing that the court granted them the six days they had sought to complete the investigations.
The lawyer termed the EACC application to continue holding the suspects, who he said have been cooperating during the investigations, as malicious, asking the court to dismiss the application.
“We call upon this court to dismiss prayers sought by the state to extend days for investigations,” the suspect’s lawyer told the court.
The lawyer told the court that it did not place a direct order to the respondents to avail their personal numbers and passwords.
He urged the court to either charge the respondents or set them free until the state finishes the investigations.
The case will be mentioned on April 1, 2025, for further directions.
